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Curses
Curses are uncommon, but quite potent. When they occur, they essentially mark an individual as part of legend immediately - each curse has its profound drawbacks, but usually carries with it some manner of unintended merit. By the same token, the blessings of the primordial cults often take the form of curses. For each core curse, there exists an Inverted, Profane, and Hallowed form. The Fool The curse of freedom. Those marked by the Fool are restless, inattentive, and typically sleep poorly. The Fool is otherness within the self; an ability to rapidly and radically change perspectives but bearing an inability to hold to any single one. *''Weal: ''You are capable of changing specializations within your class or, in extreme situations, your class, entirely. Changing specializations can only be done after a brief period of absent reflection during which you are functionally helpless. **You are also rarely subject to effects that would hinder you. Maze, web, grease or other entrapments - you go where you want, restraints be damned. **You also have a substantial bonus to rolls made to escape shackles or other bindings. *''Woe: ''Permanence is denied you. Magic items held by you will function for a time, after which they seem to expire and gutter out, and their properties change. Potions or balms initially sampled by others may have unpredictable effects. You will never be well-fed or well-rested. Sometimes, your actions will be taken for you, for better or for worse. You have trouble hanging on to currency. The Magician The curse of dedication. Those marked by the Magician lack moderation and set only absolute focus and full attention on things that they do. The Magician is mastery without wisdom, careless revelation, ceaseless fonts of intuition and insight. *''Weal: ''You may maximize rolls. This can be any roll, with the exception of Initiative. Sometimes you complete tasks in half the time or virtually no time at all. *''Woe: ''Distraction is your life. You may suddenly stop performing long-term tasks. Whenever you maximize a roll, your position in Initiative may slip, or you may become dazed or stunned momentarily from the effort. If you have been maximizing rolls frequently, you may start to minimize rolls. You also have difficulty resisting compulsions or charms if you are actively making a skill attempt. The High Priestess The curse of truth. Those burdened with this curse often become disillusioned or paranoid, for they see the truth behind events - not truth of statements but truth of motives. They often become very withdrawn, quiet individuals, for they cannot speak false. The High Priestess is judicious mistrust, of acquiring and revealing the secrets of reality and of people. *''Weal: ''You may blind yourself to the world to pierce mystical falsehoods. You typically know by instinct when people are lying. You also have little difficulty discerning secret doors or other concealed features of things. *''Woe: ''You are incapable of attempting to conceal your own motives and psychologically mislike the notion of concealing yourself. You cannot lie save by omission or very cautious structure of your statements. You are typically immune to the effects of magical invisibility or illusory disguises - as in, you cannot benefit from them. The Empress The curse of fecundity and desire. Those afflicted by this curse are pursued by others for their physical appearance, and passively augment the fertility and virility of plants and animals around them. Individuals with this curse often develop a habitual need to cover themselves or seek isolation, and often prefer to communicate with others through writing. The Empress is desire beyond rational desire. The Empress is the face that launched a thousand ships, the flaxen hair imprisoned within a lofty tower. The Empress is pursued ceaselessly by any with any interest. *''Weal: ''You distract others. Allies gain circumstantial bonuses to stealth and larceny near you. Additionally, plants simply grow better for your presence, and any livestock you may happen to spend time near will produce larger populations of offspring. **You may also, periodically, focus your attentions on individuals, potentially charming them to your aid. Alternatively, you may focus your attentions on crops or plants or infertile creatures, imparting to them your mystical fertility. *''Woe: ''People are drawn to you. In any social situation, you are virtually guaranteed to be the center of attention; even your allies may stare at noteworthy parts of your anatomy, or simply seem lost in what you are saying. Your whereabouts are almost certainly going to be known at all times. Privacy is lost to you. People may also grow hostile when you do not pay them attention, or become loud or obnoxious simply to garner your attention. The Emperor The curse of superiority. Individuals under this curse demand respect, often earning it simple through presence and force of personality. Those suffering it rarely sleep, and often take great care regarding their meals and beverages, lest they find themselves poisoned. The Emperor is a regent in a lofty tower, imparting personal structure and commanding respect through a cautiously-constructed facade built around their fragile heart. *''Weal: ''You are immune to charms and many compulsions. Yours is an iron will and your presence as black as that metal - you inspire fear in your enemies quite readily, and your confidence is rarely ever shaken. **Additionally, you may verbally or physically rebuke individuals. The former halts conventional speech and can invert any social roll they may have been making. The latter can even mute spellcasters. *''Woe: ''You are nothing when not respected. All boons afforded by this curse are inverted in every way if your will is ever broken or you are ever brought low before others. You may break down further, crumbling apart like leaves in the face of your great shame. To lose face is to die. The Hierophant The curse of order. Individuals under this curse frequently become architects of some sort - social, scientific, artistic, or otherwise - directing their paths or communities toward greater heights. They are also often found stabbed to death in an alley. The Hierophant is a respected, but lonely community leader in a remote temple, imparting organization and community without passion. *''Weal: ''You can no longer perceive the world as others do, but instead as a sequence of intersecting patterns and regions of influence. You can affect these to some degree - every now and then, you can determine a future action for an individual in your sight. **Additionally, you possess an inherent facility for planmaking, machinery, and coordinating flanked assaults with your allies. *''Woe: ''You thrive on plans. If you plan for an action, and that action fails or your plan is broken while in motion, you may be stunned or fly into a rage. Your crystalline, spiderlike psyche is offputting to most. Additionally, the people chafe under their leaders - something about your very presence makes others nervous, agitated, or nauseous. You are incapable of acting without some manner of plan - the very thought fills you with dread. **Additionally, while compelling the future actions of others, you are effectively paralysed as your senses are being cast into the future. Every such compulsion does you harm. The Lovers The curse of dependence. Those under this burden need others, for without company they will wither and die, like a garden with no gardener. The Lovers is the ever-present backbone of a group of friends, who is frequently annoying in their ever-presentness. *''Weal: ''You work well with others. You assist rolls better than most, and at any time can pool and split health with a person from your 'group' - this ability does not function on strangers and does contribute additional health to the split. In effect you are paying a small amount of health to heal the other by a larger amount. **Additionally, choose one person with which to bond. The two of you are constantly aware of the location and condition of each other, and can communicate silently. When in close proximity, you and your bond ward each other somewhat. You may sometimes cure your bond of afflictions, or be cured by being near your bond. *''Woe: ''You suffer alone. When isolated for any reason, you wither and age. This is only partially reversible, and if it occurs for prolonged periods, you will die. **Further, if the individual with which you are bonded ever goes critical or dies, you share these conditions. Any mind-effecting effect that your bond is subject to, you have a high risk of suffering. If either of you is charmed, you both are. The Chariot The curse of the conqueror. Individuals under this burden see all things as potential assets or enemies, assess all situations as having the potential to become hostile in any moment. They are swift to act and have a certain finality to their resolutions of conflict. The Chariot is a force of disaster for friends and foes alike, prepared to place under the blade any raising arms in resistance of its passage. *''Weal: ''You are typically the first to act. The Boon of the Chariot grants two active benefits. **Whenever you strike an enemy with an attack or an ability that could deal damage, it may critically hit, even if it is a damage-dealing ability that cannot normally achieve criticals. Further, whenever you do critically hit, your following round, your attacks and abilities are more likely to critically hit. **While in continual motion, you grow more and more evasive. For each round in which you have moved, your defenses versus physical attacks improve substantially. *''Woe: ''The Chariot is by nature a locus of disaster. Violence is always the answer. Any practical solutions must be seen as steps toward further violence. Sometimes, you attack without even realizing. Additionally, your constant motion and flurried actions can often leave tactical gaps in the formations of your allies, leading to enemies sometimes having a bonus to hit them. Worst of all, others under your same curse are drawn to you, as conflict breeds conflict. Justice The curse of vengeance. Individuals burdened with this curse grow impossibly cold, as their body and passion focus toward a singular purpose: punishment. This is a curse often applied to individuals who are themselves guilty of some transgression. Justice is the law, calculated and relentless, undying and eternal in its pursuit of the guilty. *''Weal: ''You have a sense of individuals who have committed misdeeds, that grows stronger when the bulk or magnitude of the misdeed increases. You are capable of channeling this into them, with a creeping, numbing cold - a paralyzing chill of the dread of incoming punition. So long as you have a person of guilt in your sight, you are able to stave off death as long as you draw closer to bringing them to your justice. The guilty pay the price. **Magnitude of guilt of a single target can feed into a Wrath value for you, similar to a barbaric rage. However, Wrath is a tightly controlled asset - your Wrath directly feeds into the magnitude of impact of physical or spell attacks you deliver. *''Woe: ''Per your preternatural coldness of attitude, your body is also impossibly cold. You frost over when you hold still. You must warm potions before you are able to drink them. You are vulnerable to fire damage, growing more vulnerable the greater your Wrath. Sometimes your guilt-sense is incorrect. You have trouble backing down. If you spend too long at low health and high Wrath, you may freeze solid. The Hermit The curse of revelatory wisdom. Individuals under this burden glow from within, becoming living lanterns of insight and discovery. They become highly aggravated by distractions, lose their appetites, and often become thin and with poorly-maintained appearances. As a secondary effect of the curse, the individual typically begins glowing from within, particularly from the eyes, nose, and mouth, and from the extremities - however, in a twist of self-deception, those under this curse perceive others as glowing brightly. The Hermit is sage at the cost of everything else in life. *''Weal: ''You have a limited ability to see through solid barriers, up to a certain thickness. You also have a certain ubiquitous quality to your senses. You do not require food or rest. You cannot be surprised. You can feel the presence of magic and, if you concentrate, certain material goods. *''Woe: ''You glow brightly enough to prohibit effective stealth. You cannot distinguish the physical characteristics of others, due to their glowing faces. Your eyes suffer in daylight, fresh air brings on a cough, and prolonged exertion fatigues you faster than most. You are prone to sensory overload and bouts of catatonia. Wheel of Fortune The curse of chaos and the turning of fate. Those under this burden cannot concentrate, cannot hold still, and cannot commit to anything. The Wheel of Fortune is change for change's sake, for better or for worse. *''Weal: ''You have an influence upon the fates of your surroundings. Things sometimes transpire differently from the original intent of their actors. At the beginning of each encounter, you have a number of 'chaos tokens' you may use to cause events to change. This sum is random. **You may cause a target's actions to take effect against a different target. **You or one ally teleport to a target location of your choice anywhere within line of sight, within 100'. **You or one ally switch places with another target of your designation. *''Woe: ''Sometimes, your powers don't target the individual you intend. Your powers return at whatever rate they choose, sometimes very quickly, sometimes far less so. Delays of any sort agitate you, as does waiting. You are functionally narcoleptic; you do not sleep regularly, but when you do it comes to you suddenly. Any lasting magical effect cast upon you may change its effect or wear off suddenly. Sometimes, you teleport short distances without warning. Strength The curse of raw power. Those under this burden have powerful physiques and cannot but be powerful. They are also prone to destroying the people and things they love, either in blackout rages or simply through tragic accidents. Strength is the hulking hero, toiling against his own careless nature, ever working to repair the damage he himself has done. *''Weal: ''You are impossibly strong. Strong enough to pound boulders to dust and tow sailing ships. Generally-speaking, you don't have trouble performing mighty tasks. Any strength-related roll is maximized, including melee damage. You also benefit from boundless health and recover rapidly from injury. While this curse is inherently tied to one's physical attributes, occasionally its recipient can tap into a "wellspring of strength" and perform a task of peerless might. *''Woe: ''You cannot hold back. Your profound strength typically destroys your weapons. You should reconsider handshakes, hugs, or other congratulatory gestures. Without assistance, you will probably destroy any garment or armour you try to wear. Your boundless health does not apply to disease. Unless by clever artifice, potions and other beneficial substances are generally denied you. If of lower natural strength, your cursed strength may fail to destroy metal garments or armour. The Hanged Man The curse of corporeal denial. Those under this burden risk becoming out of phase with reality or time when injured, though some learn to channel this to their advantage. They shift between an ephemeral, 'phantom' state, and their physical form. It is taxing, torturous, and incredibly draining. The Hanged Man is tortured and at times frail, but capable of going where others cannot. *''Weal: ''You are mostly incorporeal. You are harder to perceive, and are capable of going long periods of time without rest or food. With difficulty and exertion, you can glide laterally or pass through certain barriers, like portcullises or slatted fences. With extreme exertion or certain material assistance, you can become physical once more. You interact normally with both corporeal and incorporeal creatures and objects. If corporeal, you are capable of 'shedding' your body to escape death. *''Woe: ''When a phantom, your health is reduced by half and you have difficulty applying your full strength to corporeal tasks. You are only capable of ingesting things that are similarly partially in and out of phase, as you are. Just as you can go where others cannot, there are places too fractured for an already fractured person to travel. Though you do not often need rest, you are easily wearied. Some places and materials will force you to be in one state or another. Death The curse of finality. Those under this burden typically respond to it in one of three ways - by embracing joy and vitality, sorrow and bleakness, or by simply exterminating their own emotions entirely. Other effects include a thin appearance, cool and waxy skin, a grim light in the eyes or cast to the face, and in rare cases, leprosy or bodily infestation by parasites. Death is ends giving light to new beginnings. The closing of a chapter, and the opening of a new one. Promise rising from the ashes of misery. *''Weal: ''Contact with you, your tools, or magics you manifest deny creatures healing. If you break a thing, its components may take many years before they are capable of being mended. You and your possessions are immune to disintegration and annihilation. With great effort, you are sometimes capable of destroying things outright with a touch. You may steal the breath of a dying creature to rejuvenate yourself. *''Woe: ''As you deny others healing, so, too, are you denied it. You may choose to accept healing in a time of great need, but doing so will rob you of the benefits of this curse and the effect will still be weakened. Those who spend a great deal of time near you find themselves more frequently weary and, regardless of how you carry yourself, your presence very depressing. Sometimes, others hallucinate upon viewing you, seeing a grim visage and omen of death, rather than your true appearance. Wherever you rest, maggots and other vermin of decay gather. If you spend too much time in one location, monstrous scavengers or spectres of vengeance may begin to appear. Your presence is accompanied by an eerie, sterile aroma, like ozone and charcoal. Temperance The curse of oversight. Those under this burden find themselves followed by one or more mysterious strangers who seem to have some designs over their lives. These strangers may incapacitate and abduct the sufferer, leave them strange letters, or leave them gifts, or come to their aid in combat. Temperance is the inability to make decisions without another interfering. *''Weal: ''You have no way of predicting when or where the mysterious stranger or strangers will appear. When they are helpful, they are quite helpful - often they will see you healed when injured, or aid in defeating an enemy, or provide you ammunition or similar. *''Woe: ''Often, however, the mysterious force disagrees with whatever it is you seem to think that you are doing. You may find yourself simply turned to face another direction, or you may black out and wake up elsewhere, or a long-winded note advising you follow a very specific course of action may find its way into your bag. The Devil The curse of metamorphosis. Those under this burden sometimes change form into a horrific beast or monster, determined by some conditions. While this does grant them certain benefits, it also lends them perpetual instability and a sometime inability to control their actions, leading to growing disquiet over the lack of control in their lives. They also often manifest some qualities of the beast they become, typically features like hirsuitism or eerily smooth skin, a particular shape of the eye or cast of the face, et cetera. Unlike most curses, this curse can be transmitted very readily. The Devil is alluring and otherworldly, dangerous, powerful, and unpredictable. *''Weal: ''You are immune to disease and polymorphing. You can force yourself to transform into your beast form, or more rarely a hybrid form, typically with extreme physical benefits and intensely heightened senses by some manner. Changing forms also tends to heal you significantly. Certain beast forms have greater mobility. *''Woe: ''You are sometimes forced to change forms. When in your beast or hybrid forms, tool use is obviously difficult. Changing forms may destroy or damage clothing or armour. You bear a weakness to certain materials and herbs. Your immunity to polymorphing inhibits certain beneficial spells. The Tower The curse of endurance. Stricken by the Tower, the individual becomes overcome by an unyielding nature. The skin toughens and hardens like stone, emotionally and physiologically the individual becomes unfeeling and unmoving. In time, those under this curse will fully turn to stone and cease to function. The Tower is the ability to weather chaos and discord, but costs the individual the ability to feel... anything. *''Weal: ''You resist all forms of damage, for your skin is literally turning to stone. Additionally, you no longer require food or drink for sustenance. So long as you don't speak, you are probably immune to suffocation. *''Woe: ''Per your stony nature, you suffer the following conditions: **You are incapable of eating or drinking. This includes potions and oils. **You are incapable of physically detecting anything. This will be an issue when performing nearly any task of manual dexterity. **Penalty on stealth; mild penalty to movement speed. **You cannot swim. You can, however, walk easily across the bottom of fluid reservoirs. **Periodically, the Tower will strike you with intolerable lethargy and lack of care - you may find yourself unable to move or act at times. The Star The curse of awareness. Those under this burden perceive potential futures, shadows of the future passed to them through the broken time of the accursed places of the world. They often look harrowed by their experiences, hair going white and stiff with shock, eyes bloodshot and ringed by darkness. They know too much. The Star is foresight without control, a dismal, uncertain echo of events yet to occur. *''Weal: ''You may take an action to focus upon an individual and determine the potential courses of action they will take in the near future. This robs you of your awareness of the present, and - sometimes - may cause you some small harm, but grants you significant bonuses on either assisting or interrupting that individual's actions. Sometimes, you are capable of acting as if hasted. *''Woe: ''Sometimes, you cannot assess individuals at all. Attempting to predict an unpredictable target will instead paralyze you and flood you with echoes of disaster. Occasionally, you will unwittingly bear witness to the awful past of a place. You age faster than others. Hastening has drastic and damaging side effects. The Moon The curse of inheritance. Those under this burden are marked by their possession of an artifact they cannot be rid of, one with a phenomenal curse of its own but with great magical power. This artifact may be any number of things: a healing totem that permanently scars the mind of those it restores to health, a heart-seeking sword that has a tendency to kill your friends or loved ones, a twisted claw that grants wishes to its own satisfaction and not yours, a thorny choker cloaking you in ghosts and phantoms, or any number of other things. The Moon is worry for the next 'accident' your heirloom will cause, yet bearing phenomenal power due to that same heirloom. *''Weal: ''You possess a cursed artifact. Magic items are rare, and artifacts rarer; this one in particular cannot be removed or disposed of by any means. It may be permanently attached to you, if a piece of jewellery or a garment, embedded in your body, if a miscellaneous item, or it will simply find its way back to you if cast aside, if a weapon. The powers granted by this artifact are truly profound. *''Woe: ''The artifact has a malign intellect. It may need to be bartered with to function. It may hunger for the blood of the innocent, a rare commodity in this realm. It may simply feed on your frustration with it. Regardless, while it will generally function for you, it will sometimes behave inappropriately. This will be predictable behaviour for the item in question. The Sun The curse of supernatural power. Those under this burden are marked by flame, burning eternally with a profound energy, that cannot be extinguished with any permanency. They do not seem to age, but are often frustrated by their inability to interact with many things without destroying them. The Sun is inextinguishable, unquenchable and possibly eternal. *''Weal: ''You are on fire. This fire lifts you supernaturally, causing you to hover about a foot above the ground - force of will causes you to move at a pace similar to others' walking, hustling, or running paces. It sheds light stronger than a lantern, and its energy heals you continuously. You are occasionally able to throw this fire or channel it through a weapon. *''Woe: ''You are on fire. You cannot wear most clothing or carry most containers; really, anything made of wood, leather, cloth, or soft metals. You cannot descend. Any effect that would extinguish your flame will also immediately render you unconscious. You must be cautious of how you interact with your environment. Judgment The curse of the immortal body. Those under this burden are incapable of remaining dead. They can, however, die - frequently. Their bodies will functionally recover from virtually any injury, provided they hold any severed members to the origin point to allow the wound to 'seal'. This is, unfortunately, not without its drawbacks. Judgment is lasting and eternal, an assignment of eternal labour to a person to whom the mercy of death should be denied. *''Weal: ''You cannot die. When driven to 0 health or below, you simply lie dormant, incapacitated until you are capable of mustering the will to stand once more. If any limb is severed from your body, meeting the point of severance to itself for a period of time will seal the wound and restore functionality. This includes your head, though your body will fall limp when away from it. Sometimes, through rare circumstances, you can revive others or reattach their limbs in the same way; it is, however, disgusting to behold. *''Woe: ''Though you cannot die, you also cannot truly heal. Wounds stop bleeding, but do not really, truly close. Each time you are incapacitated, you lose more and more of your memories; this can include some loss of skills. There are ways to reverse this loss, but generally-speaking, individuals under this curse lose their sense of self over time and eventually go insane. The World The curse of plenty. Those under this burden have no trouble with material wealth, never go hungry or thirsty, though frequently they grow frustrated with their inability to interact with their environment and develop difficulties in eating and drinking. This frustration typically mounts unceasingly. The World is affluent and lacks for nothing save satisfaction. *''Weal: ''Foods and other consumables in your possession are never diminished by your partaking of them. Charge-based magic items do not deplete. Your lantern's oil is never diminished, your lockpicks never snap, your quiver never runs out.. et cetera. *''Woe: ''Your touch turns nonmagical materials into a material precious in most of the world. Weapons, tools, armour, and so on will become salt, gold, silver, lead, or some other valuable material. While this can be sometimes stopped by wearing gloves (which are, themselves, likely to be transformed), prolonged contact will still slowly transmute things. The only protection from this is to use only the most expensive or finest of materials. Your skin's outermost layer becomes a precious material, flaking off at times, particularly when you sleep. Contact with others is a poor idea. The Void The curse of curses. Individuals under this burden become attainers and bestowers of accursement, incapable of directly benefiting themselves but accruing individual and varied curses and bestowing them upon others, whether by request or malignance. The Void is all-encompassing, but lacks self-direction or personal desire. The Void is a world within and without The World and exists as a service to others. *''Weal: ''You can move curses between individuals. *''Woe: ''You become enveloped in a world of your own creation. This world removes itself from the world at large, isolating you away from others. Without seeking others out to grant them assistance, or others seeking you out for your own, yours will be a lonely time. Category:Metaphysics Category:Mechanics